Dinah Drake (Prime Earth)

As a result of the New 52 in 2011, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation's. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambiguation page.

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Her name is Dinah Drake Lance, but she's known as the Black Canary. She's a force of nature, utterly unstoppable when innocent lives are on the line. When other girls were applying to college, she was mastering the ancient arts of judo and jiu-jitsu -- which means she doesn't even need to use her superpowers to kick your butts. She's got a voice like a hurricane, a heart like a furnace and for some stupid reason, even after everything I do to push her away... she loves me.

Contents

History

Dinah Drake is the Black Canary, a vigilante with the distinctive sonic scream superpower known as the Canary Cry, which she uses to fight crime with the Birds of Prey and Green Arrow.

Origins

Dinah grew up as a street kid in Gotham City, until she was caught dumpster diving by Desmond Lamar, the owner of a local dojo. Taking pity on her, he allowed her to stay at the dojo in exchange for helping with the building's maintenance. This went on for years, and she grew to think of him like a father as he took her on as a student at his dojo. When he discovered that he had terminal cancer, he left the care of the dojo to Dinah in his will, and she took up instructing his classes. Unfortunately, he had been keeping the local gangs from muscling in on the dojo for protection money.

When the power outage that hit Gotham prior to super-storm René's arrival left the city in the dark, Dinah had been away from the dojo and happened to encounter an injured man working for John Lynch. The man gave her a device before dying, and she soon found herself being chased by a gang of ninjas who sought to take it for themselves. She fought them off for a while but was eventually overwhelmed. Fortunately, John Lynch and his men arrived in time to save her life. When he returned her to her dojo, she found it had been destroyed during the riots.

Realizing she had nothing left, Lynch offered her the chance to join him on the metahuman-fighting squad Team 7,[2] which she agreed to do for a while and met her future husband Kurt Lance.[3] Drake worked for Team 7, being sent on a mission to find the Black Diamond that was corrupting the souls of those around it. [4] After that mission, Dinah realized that John Lynch's plan for the team was to put them through the wringer and essentially give them powers, Dinah gaining the ability to create a deafening scream called the "Canary Cry".

Eventually, Dinah would marry her team member Kurt, but soon after, she would come to believe he had been killed by her own hand .[5]

A year after leaving Team 7, Dinah was still searching for remnants of the metahuman organization known as Basilisk. She had a lead that pointed to the Iceberg Lounge and so got a job as a bouncer in the employ of the Penguin. There, she met and befriended Starling and was given the codename of Black Canary. When her investigation was compromised by Batgirl, the three women joined forces in catching the Basilisk agent. This experience led Dinah to feel the need to be on a team again, the three founding the Birds of Prey.[6]

After also recruiting Katana and Poison Ivy to the team, the Birds of Prey investigated a criminal named Choke who was brainwashing civilians with a secret trigger word but failed to catch him.[7]

Things became rocky with the team, with the roster losing Katana and Ivy soon after and gaining a former Talon named Strix. At Batgirl's urging, Dinah allowed Strix to stay at her dojo, while allowing Condor to become close to the team, though he was only intended to stay temporarily. After an ambush by Mister Freeze, the Birds of Prey learned they had been betrayed by one of their founding members - Starling, sending the team into hiding to escape the conspiracy against them.[8]

While on the run, Dinah learned that her husband Kurt Lance was alive and being used to dampen her powers by Basilisk.[9] She soon learned that Basilisk's leader, Regulus, was in fact Dean Higgins—a man she and Kurt had worked with in Team 7. He and Kaizen Gamorra were merged into one by a combination of the Canary Cry that destroyed Gamorra Island and the psychic energy there. Her power had been what inspired him to create Basilisk as a counter to super-powered beings. He intended to use Kurt's dampening ability to remove the entire world of super-powers and then gain control.[10] Dinah insisted she would save Kurt no matter the cost, and removed him from his bed. The result was that his amplification ability began to over-load. It was only through Batgirl's intervention that Dinah was prevented from screaming down the whole compound.[11]

Black Canary Band

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Rebirth

After meeting the vigilante Green Arrow, he and Black Canary began a relationship and worked as partner-heroes in Seattle.

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Birds of Prey, Back Together

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Powers and Abilities

Powers

Canary Cry: Black Canary possesses a Metagene that allows her to produce a powerful sonic attack capable of damaging, disorienting, and stunning anyone she uses it on. According to Dinah, her Canary Cry is powerful enough to be capable of shattering metals and shattering a person's skull if directly on them.[12] Dinah is able to use her Canary Cry to glide across great distances by manipulating sound waves.[13] She is also able to use her voice in a low frequency to extinguish fires.[14]

Sound Immunity: Black Canary's eardrums have a thick membrane which makes her immune to the effects of her own powers as well as other loud noises.[15]

Dinah Drake was married to Kurt Lance, and his death rendered her a widow. However, his resurrection by way of the Samsara Serum makes it difficult to tell what the state of their marriage is, and whether it is still legal or not.

Birds of Prey memberThis character is or was a member of the Birds of Prey, a team of female super-heroes that go on special missions across the world, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Birds of Prey members" category.

Black Canary band memberThis character is or was a member of Black Canary, a rock band led by the hero Dinah Drake. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Black Canary members" category.

This character is or was a member of the Green Arrow family of vigilante super-heroes, who fight crime using archery and martial arts. They are a loose connection brought together through family bonds and shared experiences. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Team Arrow members."

This character is or was a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from both interstellar and domestic threats.This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice League of America members" category.